Comments (6)
This has been discussed multiple times. While the idea is good, there are multiple steps which have to be done:
- Stella could easily define and support such a format, but that's not the right way to do it. There are other emulators (gopher2600, z26., Javatari, Mame, Libretro, Android, iOS...) and we should align with them. This had been started in the past (on a lower level), but never lead to results.
- What should be the feature set of this software? All you listed above? Less, more? Which features are mandatory? Only the ROM? Who is the authority to define that?
- Next are multi carts. These should be able to handle the new format too. This affects Harmony/Encore, Plus/UnoCart, Krokodile Cart, Starpath multicharger... Most likely this will require a transfer program (Windows, Linux, MacOS...), which extracts the ROM from the container.
- A major problem is, who will convert and distribute the thousands of ROMs out there? There has to be software which does this as a batch. And volunteers, who will add the missing information. We need a easy to use software for multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS...) which also allows converting individual files.
- Since this will never be completely done, emulators will still have to support raw ROMs.
- ... most likely more which I forgot now.
IMO it is not on the Stella team to orchestrate the efforts (and we do not have enough time anyway). So who will organize this? You? Without anyone driving the project, I cannot see all of this happening anytime soon. Or only with major, continuous effort from multiple, interested sides.
Anyway, I can assure you that, when the final format is defined, Stella will support it.
from stella.
i don't think it is necessary for Stella to "convert and distribute the thousands of ROMs out there". indeed this is probably a copyright minefield that YOU don't want to be responsible for. i think specifying the format and giving an example is enough. Are there any games in the public domain?
from stella.
For the format many things have to be considered. It is not up to Stella to define the format to its own needs only.
I am sure there a many such games, especially homebrews
from stella.
Note: We are currently discussing this in detail with multiple parties involved. As soon as we have a result, I will post an update.
from stella.
for reference, the MESS 7800 emulator has an .a78 format with a header containing information about the game. even something like this would be a far cry better than what we're seeing for 2600 games. see http://7800.8bitdev.org/index.php/A78_Header_Specification
from stella.
Yes, this is part of the ongoing (well, currently stalled) discussion.
from stella.
Related Issues (20)
- VirusTotal and Windows Defender report Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner.N!cl for Stella-6.7.1-windows.zip and Stella-6.7.1-win32.exe HOT 33
- Auto phosphor HOT 8
- stella_6.7.1_amd64.deb not install in Ubuntu 20.04 HOT 2
- Favorites not always displays
- Solaris doesn't display more than two lives HOT 1
- Libretro build failure HOT 1
- Elevator Agent NTSC and Stella core Retroarch HOT 1
- Posibility of merging the latest changes of upstream Stella to Libretro version? HOT 3
- Stella acting as a console (emulating other 2600 behaviors beyond similar/like "frying")
- Unstable E7 mapper debuging HOT 16
- Previous frame B&W "trace" is not displayed in the debugger.
- Add developer option for disabling PlusRom functionality
- PlusROM emulation incorrect
- Early HMOVE glitch on some consoles HOT 7
- Trojan HOT 1
- Paddles no longer listed in device types like they were in older versions HOT 3
- SourceForge Archive
- 32-bit version executable on distribution in detected as malware HOT 4
- QuadTari detection not working with RetroArch
- Libretro build failures HOT 14
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